Mounted Combat Mechanics

[Darthclimo]

I haven't been able to find this anywhere and I'm getting frustrated -- I hope someone can please help.

Cavalier Gendarme build, I'm riding into combat on a mount. Thing is, I've no idea why. Does my horse add any bonuses to my attacks while mounted? Should I be controlling him individually as an extra unit?

Please, if someone could just explain the mounted combat mechanics I'd be really grateful.

[Bastion]

Firstly, mounted combat works as thus, You and your mount work as one unit, you both attack when you use the attack action and when you charge, as long as you are not using a reach weapon. If you used a long sword and charge both you and your mount will attack, likewise if you are already in melee you and your mount will both attack. 2ndly, mounted combat feats taken by you will apply while you are on your mount alone, its feat line is separate to yours.

[Darthclimo]

Originally posted by Bastion:

Firstly, mounted combat works as thus, You and your mount work as one unit, you both attack when you use the attack action and when you charge, as long as you are not using a reach weapon. If you used a long sword and charge both you and your mount will attack, likewise if you are already in melee you and your mount will both attack. 2ndly, mounted combat feats taken by you will apply while you are on your mount alone, its feat line is separate to yours.

Thanks buddy, I appreciate it. So let me just get this straight because there seems to be some stipulations.

1. If I use a reach weapon, my mount will NOT combine attacks with me either IN MELEE or WHEN CHARGING.
2. Lvl 3: Cavalier's Charge (+4 bonus Melee Attack rolls on Charge attack). I wonder then if this bonus DOES NOT apply if I'm using a reach weapon like you say.
3. Will wearing a shield in my off-hand have any effect?

[Rayla]

Originally posted by Darthclimo:

Does my horse add any bonuses to my attacks while mounted? Should I be controlling him individually as an extra unit?

If you're using a horse as a mount, then you will get a +1 circumstance bonus to AC and attack rolls while on horseback.
Beyond that, there are several feats that will give you bonuses for fighting while mounted and in particular when using the charge ability (for instance, the "Spirited Charge" feat will double melee damage while charging on a mount).
Some of these feats are exclusive to the cavalier's class and its orders (for instance, the "Mounted Mastery" feat that allows you to add your mount strenght bonus to your attack rolls).
Be warned that mounted combat is still quit buggy and some mounted feats aren't working properly (the "Mounted Combat" one, for example, doesn't trigger correctly and it's pretty much useless right now).

[Bastion]

Originally posted by Darthclimo:

Originally posted by Bastion:

Firstly, mounted combat works as thus, You and your mount work as one unit, you both attack when you use the attack action and when you charge, as long as you are not using a reach weapon. If you used a long sword and charge both you and your mount will attack, likewise if you are already in melee you and your mount will both attack. 2ndly, mounted combat feats taken by you will apply while you are on your mount alone, its feat line is separate to yours.

Thanks buddy, I appreciate it. So let me just get this straight because there seems to be some stipulations.

1. If I use a reach weapon, my mount will NOT combine attacks with me either IN MELEE or WHEN CHARGING.
2. Lvl 3: Cavalier's Charge (+4 bonus Melee Attack rolls on Charge attack). I wonder then if this bonus DOES NOT apply if I'm using a reach weapon like you say.
3. Will wearing a shield in my off-hand have any effect?

1, unles your mount also has reach, your polearm reach keeps it out of its own combat reach.
2. Depends on the wording, if it says spears, that would also include a short spear which has no reach so your mounts will still be able to attack.
3. you retain your ac, there is a feat which also grants your mount your ac, i am not sure how enemies target you when you are mounted as i have not seen that part of a fight yet, as a lot of people have said it is bugged i did not play my mounted character very long.

[Lightning]

Ranged combat you basically have to set your pet on non Ai and stay at ranged with your character, melee mounted so much easier to handle

[hihepux]

As a side note, Horse companions have a special ability that gives you a +1 to attack when attacking medium or smaller sized enemies while mounted compared with other large companions you can mount.

[ashurakain]

speaking of mounts, can i get list of animals as a (druid, or Cavalier beast tamer), that cant be used for mounted combat. Ive tried the smilodon, and the Giant Centipede and they dont seem work as mounts.

[Icyage]

they have to be a size bigger than you. i got an item that gives me a triceratops but it started at medium so i couldnt mount it. when it got to lvl 7 it became large and i was able to mount it. maybe if you were a gnome or a halfling you could ride a dog later on ^^

@ topic i use seelahs horse as a second tank which works well now that it has heavy armor
apperently if she mounts it the horse gets attacked first and dies rather quickly which makes her fall down and be prone ...

[[TGC] MadGod]

Originally posted by Icyage:

they have to be a size bigger than you. i got an item that gives me a triceratops but it started at medium so i couldnt mount it. when it got to lvl 7 it became large and i was able to mount it. maybe if you were a gnome or a halfling you could ride a dog later on ^^

This. Mind you that later on in all "charge/melee" related builds with mounts, the dice of your weapon damage is no longer really relevant, it is the flat bonuses.

So basically, you can use a small character on medium and large creatures from level 1 onward and are not forced to use a horse. The -2 to strength is irrelevant very quickly.

If the charge/combat maneuver mechanics were not bugged, my gnome mastodon riding cav would be mowing down demons left and right.

Always chuckling that a mastodon animal companion is medium while a horse is large. :D

And a vermin rider is often VERY powerful due to the inherent immunities of that class of creatures. In this game, it is meh since demons are immune to poison and have good to-hit. So unless you got a VERY high mobility check and the mounted combat feat, they squish your bug companion quickly until it has leveled to get some armor.

[ashurakain]

thats the thing, the smilodon, starts as a medium size, and at lvl 7 it becomes a large size. That goes the same for the Giant Centipede, both saves/char are at lvl 17 and i still cant mount them.
And this is what im trying figure out, which mounts dont grow at lvl 7 that are at medium size at the start. My smilodon never grew past medium, and neither did the centipede.

I want to make another cavalier beastmaster build, but i wanna have something other than the triceretops or the horse, cause those seem to be the only large builds or medium to large builds that you can mount.

So ill ask again, which mounts cant you ride at as medium size character, that has a medium start to large lvl 7 mount?

[[TGC] MadGod]

Originally posted by ashurakain:

thats the thing, the smilodon, starts as a medium size, and at lvl 7 it becomes a large size. That goes the same for the Giant Centipede, both saves/char are at lvl 17 and i still cant mount them.
And this is what im trying figure out, which mounts dont grow at lvl 7 that are at medium size at the start. My smilodon never grew past medium, and neither did the centipede.

Ahhh.

Now I get it. :)

The smilodon and centipede would be a bug (in their game, they grow to large, in the paper they dont).

I want to make another cavalier beastmaster build, but i wanna have something other than the triceretops or the horse, cause those seem to be the only large builds or medium to large builds that you can mount.

So ill ask again, which mounts cant you ride at as medium size character, that has a medium start to large lvl 7 mount?

Can or cannot. The ONLY mount option that starts large is horse.

The only animal companion that does NOT grow to large size @ level 7 in this game are

Leopard
Velociraptor
Monitor Lizard

from memory. I checked them all yesterday...at least that's what the game says. And I have not seen any beastrider companions missing. So you can mount them all.

[Einzbern]

One wrong peace of info earlier in the thread. I'm currently playing a mounted character(kitsune with a horse) with a reach weapon. When I charge, both my character and my mount get an attack in. If I just do a regular attack from my max reach range though, my horse seems to NOT get an attack. I need to move in.

I am curious about something though. I had thought large creatures ended up treating their natural attacks as having reach, but this does not seem to be the case. Is there a way to give animal companions reach?

[[TGC] MadGod]

Originally posted by Einzbern:

One wrong peace of info earlier in the thread. I'm currently playing a mounted character(kitsune with a horse) with a reach weapon. When I charge, both my character and my mount get an attack in. If I just do a regular attack from my max reach range though, my horse seems to NOT get an attack. I need to move in.

Working as expected. You outreach your animal, so it cannot attack. Usually, you can control the companion better than in this game and if you face 2 rows of enemies, you can hit the back row with the reach weapon while your horse kicks the ones in front of it.

Does not work here, alas.

I am curious about something though. I had thought large creatures ended up treating their natural attacks as having reach, but this does not seem to be the case. Is there a way to give animal companions reach?

Not all large creatures have reach. "Tall" large creatures like giants have them. "Long" large creatures not always. Most animals fall under the "long" large category. And from memory, I dont think there is a way to add reach to an animal...never thought about that to be honest. :)

[Einzbern]

Do any of the animal companions end up getting reach? I assume the smilodon won't.

[ashurakain]

Originally posted by TGC von Anrantz:

Originally posted by ashurakain:

thats the thing, the smilodon, starts as a medium size, and at lvl 7 it becomes a large size. That goes the same for the Giant Centipede, both saves/char are at lvl 17 and i still cant mount them.
And this is what im trying figure out, which mounts dont grow at lvl 7 that are at medium size at the start. My smilodon never grew past medium, and neither did the centipede.

Ahhh.

Now I get it. :)

The smilodon and centipede would be a bug (in their game, they grow to large, in the paper they dont).

I want to make another cavalier beastmaster build, but i wanna have something other than the triceretops or the horse, cause those seem to be the only large builds or medium to large builds that you can mount.

So ill ask again, which mounts cant you ride at as medium size character, that has a medium start to large lvl 7 mount?

Can or cannot. The ONLY mount option that starts large is horse.

The only animal companion that does NOT grow to large size @ level 7 in this game are

Leopard
Velociraptor
Monitor Lizard

from memory. I checked them all yesterday...at least that's what the game says. And I have not seen any beastrider companions missing. So you can mount them all.

ah i c... so the smilodon and the centipede are the only ones that dont grow from medium to large.
So that means, as a medium sized char, i can mount the wolf, boar, bear, elk, and mastadon, when they reach large size, and as small char, i can mount all of them.